


your arms are my home, and I locked myself out

by Marvellous



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Forgotten Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 07:47:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8278292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvellous/pseuds/Marvellous
Summary: The changes he made were smaller this time, but one major difference catches Barry off guard.





	

**Author's Note:**

> First Olivarry fic I've posted on here! Not beta read, criticism greatly appreciated. Always afraid I'm going OOC.

Barry was still coming to terms with all the changes he’d made, and the fact that he couldn’t mess with the timeline again. Perhaps one of the hardest things was Oliver. Maybe it was karma for messing up everyone else’s lives, he told himself. It didn’t make it any easier when his boyfriend didn’t remember their relationship.

He had gone back to Star City to tell Felicity he had sorted things out…at least as much as he could, and in the middle of telling her Oliver showed up. Relief flooded onto Barry’s face at the sight of him. Immediately he went and wrapped his arms around the other, “Oh my god, Ollie, I messed up.” Something wasn’t right. Instead of the embrace of the blonde’s arms, Barry felt his body tense. 

Oliver pushed Barry away gently and look at him with a raised eyebrow, “Okay, so how does that affect me?”

Feeling hurt, Barry looked at Oliver with his mouth open a little bit. He looked over to Felicity who was looking at Barry strangely. It dawned on him finally. He had just assumed he and Oliver were the same as they had been in his original timeline. Not much was different here now, so why would Oliver and him be? “I…I guess it doesn’t?” Barry stuttered, completely caught off guard.

“You’re acting even stranger than usual, Allen,” Oliver’s eyes narrowed before he went off to do whatever he came here to do. 

Barry’s throat felt too dry and his heart felt heavy. He looked over at Felicity and she cocked her head, knowing something wasn’t right with him again. “Oliver and me…” He trailed off, eyes meeting hers.

Felicity gasped softly and she realized what he meant. His eyes spoke volumes. “Oh…oh, that is different. Wow. But he isn’t even gay. How did that even come about? When, Barry? Like how long would it have been?” she rambled, quietly in case Oliver was listening, a little disbelieving of the whole scenario.

Burying his face in his hands Barry shook his head, trying to wrap his brain around this. “It clearly doesn’t matter anymore. Um, I need to go,” He managed, his voice choked. Not even bothering to say by he spun on his heal and ran, leaving a stunned looking Felicity staring after where he had been.

———

A destination wasn’t really in his mind, he just had to run. Someplace that he could clear his head. He stayed in Star City, and found himself walking along the water. The reflection of the city lights in the dark water calmed him somewhat. This whole city used to be like a second home, but now it seemed different. He had felt like he was a part of it, but now he felt isolated, without a reason to be here. An actual ache could be felt in his chest as he mulled over the newfound information of what he changed. There was no way to fix this. The memories of any relationship with Oliver were now his alone to bear.

Barry looked at his hands and the spaces between his fingers, where Oliver’s had often fit so perfectly. Oliver’s arms were like his home, but someone had locked him out and there was no way to get back in, so he was left to sit out in the cold. A chill ran down his spine and the thought of not having the other’s arms to find comfort in was enough to push him over the edge. He felt his eyes well up, not holding it back now. What was the point of keeping it bottled up? Wasn’t like this had some magical solution so he might as well deal with his feelings now. Tears streamed down his face as he looked over the water. All he could do was stand there for god knows how long, exposed skin becoming numb as the night became darker, moon visible but the stars drowning in the light pollution from the city. His tear ducts had run dry when he unexpectedly he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Just about jumping out of his skin, Barry spun around only to see Oliver. His eyes drifted over the older one longingly, for a moment believing it had all been a trick of his imagination or whatever. Upon meeting Oliver’s eyes he could tell right away that wasn’t the case. Gone was the loving warmth Barry was used to, instead his expression was closed off, not really letting Barry know anything that was on his mind. Finally Barry made himself speak, voice only wavering a little, “I’m fine.”

“Cut the BS, Felicity told me what you did,” Oliver leaned against the railing beside Barry.

“What? That I went back in time, screwed up, messed with people’s lives,” Barry scoffed, shaking his head at himself before turning his head to the water.

“Basically,” the blonde said, a small sad twitch of his lips portraying the fact that he felt at least a little bad for Barry.

Barry laughed despite himself, rubbing his eyes clear before looking back at Oliver. 

Oliver sighed thoughtfully, seeming to turn the words over in his head before he spoke, “So what’s the deal with you and I in this other timeline?   
“Felicity didn’t tell you?”

“No, she said to ask you about it.”

Telling Oliver about how they used to be in a relationship that he now has no memory of wasn’t really what Barry felt like doing. “We were close, closer than we are now apparently,” He said simply, his voice soft, trying to say as little as possible.

Oliver’s eyebrows creased as he huffed, “How close?”

Slightly frustrated, Barry closed his eyes for a second. “Oliver, I don’t want to do this. Everyone else was okay with not knowing about their lives in other timeline-” 

“I’m not everyone else,” Oliver cut him off. The persistence in his voice was odd to Barry, considering how he’d been last he saw him just a little while ago. 

“No, you aren’t,” Barry’s voice was hoarse. Telling him and being shut down was not a feeling Barry wanted to experience right now. 

Oliver just looked at Barry. He was pretty sure what was going on and what it was that Barry was hesitant to tell him about, he just wanted to make sure. “We were…together,” his voice was unsure, somewhat a statement that verged on being a question.

Barry met the archer’s eyes and nodded, noticing now that they were actually pretty close to one another.

“I don’t know exactly how all this time travel stuff works, but maybe things haven’t really changed, maybe just delayed?” Oliver seemed to struggle with his words.

The way Oliver was now, Barry was taken back to the night he confessed he had feelings for him. Maybe everything wasn’t so hopeless after all. “What are you trying to say?” Barry asked, daring to smile a little.

“I know before I ran for mayor that I…well, I was attracted to you, Barry, and I was going to tell you. Then the campaign, and Darhk, and Laurel…I sidelined all my personal feelings,” Oliver confessed.

Was. Past tense. That’s what Barry focused on in Oliver’s words. “Okay, I understand,” Barry tried not to feel too let down. He shouldn’t have let himself get hopeful like that anyways.

Oliver looked at Barry, perplexed. He realized how the younger one must have taken that and he laughed before taking Barry’s hand in his, “No, you don’t. What I’m trying to say is I still like you, and I’m at an okay place right now to be able to tell you that. The other timeline is nothing to me, but I know how I feel here and now.”

Barry looked at his hand. Just a little over an hour ago he had been so negative and so sure that he’d never feel Oliver’s hand in his again. 

After a moment of silence, Oliver looked at Barry, a little unsure, “So do you want to try? Like a date or something?”

“Yah, I think that’d be nice,” Barry smiled, met by the other mirroring that.

Maybe this wasn’t ideal. Barry now had to work on building the nearly two year relationship he had had with Oliver all over again. As long as it took though, Barry didn’t care, because he felt that much closer to this timeline being the home he remembered.

**Author's Note:**

> No characters belong to me.


End file.
